One more Pike Street building ready for redevelopment

Exterior of 114 W. Pike Street, Covington, which will be renovated into apartments with commercial space on the first floor.
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COVINGTON – The city business district’s renaissance is moving forward as another historic building on Pike Street has been slated for development.

The Tanino’s Cafe building at 114 West Pike Street was sold to developer Tony Kreutzjans and Orleans Development last week, after commissioners declared the city-owned property as surplus. The building, which is commonly called Tanino’s for its last tenant, will become part of Orleans’ neighboring Pike Star project, which combines first-floor commercial spaces with up-market apartments on the upper floors.

“It really is ‘phase two’ of Pike Star,” said Kreutzjans.

As part of the project, his firm started converting the properties at 108-112 W. Pike St. last year. UpTech, the start-up business accelerator, moved into the first floor space soon after. As the apartments above UpTech near completion, the developer now has plans for the new addition.

“From the beginning, (the Tanino’s building) was in the back of our minds. That’s the way we designed things. When it’s done, tenants will actually enter through the Pike Star common areas. It’ll be like they are one building,” Kreutzjans said.

Ultimately, he said, the new project will add four market-rate apartments and another commercial space to Pike Star. The fourth floor, once considered for demolition because of its difficult access, will remain as top two floors of the building will house large, two-floor apartments, Kreutzjans said.

Pike Star is the latest development by Kreutzjans and his firm, which he founded in 2005. Since then, the company has invested more than $7 million in downtown development including several other renovations nearby, according to its website. Orleans also owns owns or manages more than 100 residential units in the area, and roughly 20,000 square feet of commercial space.

“Little by little, we’re trying to give a new life to downtown Covington,” said Kreutzjans. “I think it’s working. The response has been incredible.”

One of the firm’s last projects, The Market Lofts, located a block west of Pike Star, rented all 15 of its apartments within weeks after completion, Kreutzjans said. He expects demand will only increase, and two more projects are in the works.

For the city, the Tanino building project not only means more development in the area, but it also removes the property from the city’s books. Covington bought the building in 2005 for $197,000 to be a piece of the planned arts district in the Pike Street corridor. After the effort stalled, the city tried to market the building to other buyers without success.

“A lot of people of had strong interest, but when it came down to it they didn’t have the financial capability to make it a viable project on its own,” said Naashom Marx, Covington’s business development manager. “It just wasn’t viable, until (Orleans) combined it with Pike Star.”

The city entered into exclusive negotiations with the developer in May, culminating in last week’s sale of the property for $1. It was a bargain price, but worth it to get the project moving, Marx said.

“(Orleans) owns more than 100 units in the city that are nice, market rate places that anyone would want to live in. They also goes out of their way to make sure they’re not depending on city subsidies, which is why the sale made sense for us. Tony’s somebody we hope to continue working with, bring new energy to downtown Covington,” she added.■